About the Book

Chinese Dreams? American Dreams?

Immigrant Chinese women scientists and engineers who study and work in the United States constitute a rapidly growing yet understudied group. These women’s lived experiences and reflections can tell us a great deal about the current state of immigrant women scientists in the United States, how universities can help these women succeed, and about China’s emergence as a global scientific and technological superpower.

Chinese Dreams? American Dreams? is the first ethnographic study to document migrating Chinese-born women scientists’ and engineers’ educational experiences and careers in the U.S. It historically situates these women in current political, economic, and cultural contexts and examines the successful strategies they employ to survive discrimination, advance careers, establish networks, and promote transnational research collaborations during their educational and career journeys in the U.S. This study makes a valuable text for students, researchers, and policy makers in higher education, women’s studies, science and engineering studies, as well as for faculty who teach future scientists and engineers. It also introduces new multicultural, intersectional, and feminist perspectives on these crucial issues of gender, ethnicity, nationality, and class, as they impact women’s professional lives.